Send this to a friend

Pfizer Inc. returned rights to an early-stage asthma drug to Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. — at least the third such move involving a Bay Area biopharmaceutical company in the past couple of weeks.

R-343, targeting allergic asthma, recently completed several Phase I trials, but South San Francisco’s Rigel (NASDAQ: RIGL) said Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) decided to return the drug is based on the giant drug maker’s decision to exit R&D for allergy and respiratory drug.

Rigel said in a press release Friday that it expects to design a Phase II trial with R-343 later this year.

Rigel’s drug, R-343, is an inhaled drug that inhibits syk, a protein that plays a key role in a certain receptor’s signaling of mast cells. By stopping the signal from being received by mast cells, R-343 could prevent an immune response to an allergen, such as pollen, or pathogen.

Rigel believes the treatment could be effective in short-term and long-term control of allergic asthma, a chronic disorder of the lungs and respiratory passages.

The drug was part of a portfolio of inhaled small molecule syk inhibitors that Rigel licensed to Pfizer in 2005.

Industries:

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.